Photos: Dope sick America battles national opioid crisis

Aug 03, 2017 15:13 IST

/

Heroin use has doubled across the US since 2010 according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, part of an epidemic of opioid abuse that began in the 1990s, when doctors began prescribing higher doses of powerful painkillers. A commission instated by President Trump to look into the crisis has reported that opioid overdoses across America claim as many lives as the 9/11 attacks every three weeks. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP)

/

Mike, 22, a heroin addict who began using opiates when he was 13, pauses to shoot-up by a railway underpass in the Kensington section of Philadelphia which has become a hub for heroin. Hundreds of outreach workers, city employees and Conrail workers started to clear an area known as El Campamento. Over 900 people died last year in Philadelphia from opioid overdoses, a 30 percent increase from 2015. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP)

/

Used needles are left behind in what was a heroin shooting gallery in Philadelphia. An interim report by Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis states that while the overall amount of pain that Americans cope with has remained steady, opioid prescriptions from medical doctors as well as opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP)

/

Chris, a homeless heroin addict displays a brand of heroin called ‘power play’ available on the streets for $5. The report also sheds light on the fact that four out of every five eventual heroin users begin with non medical use of prescription pills. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP)

/

As the grip over prescription drugs tightens, addicts move from the abuse of medical opioids like codeine, oxycodone, methadone and morphine to street substitutes and non medicinal versions of drugs like OxyContin, Percocet to heroin and increasingly fentanyl. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP)

/

Sneakers hang from phone lines --a symbol often associated with areas of drug and gang influence -- in Kensington, Philadelphia. Figures presented by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) show that between 1999 and 2015, more than 560,000 lives were lost to overdoses -- a figure larger than the entire population of the city of Atlanta, Georgia. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP)

/

Jimmy, a heroin addict from South Jersey, showers and washes his clothes in an open fire hydrant in Philadelphia. Opioid-use disorder (OUD) has been linked to homelessness among veterans with a risk factor 10 times greater than the general veteran population. Homeless adults aged 25-44 were also nine times more likely to die of overdose compared to their stable homed counterparts with opioids forming 80% of all overdose deaths. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP)

/

A man administers Naloxone as they try to revive a man who overdosed on heroin. The interim report recommends the prescription of naloxone, a fast-acting overdose reversal drug along with high-risk opioids and its inclusion in the arsenal of law enforcement officers across the country. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP)

/

With an opioid abuse rampant, the commission has kept its harshest critique for the medical community stating that ‘this crisis began in our nation’s health care system.’, further stating estimates that over 80% of the one million prescribers licensed for controlled substances lack training regarding safe dosages, screening patients for signs of drug dependence and measures in case of substance abuse. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP)

/

As more potent drugs like Fentanyl make their way to the streets, drug deaths in the United States have overtaken gun violence and car crash deaths combined. In light of such figures the commission argues for a state of emergency to allow for swift federal action in battling the opioid crisis as well as forcing Congress to pay attention to tis ‘scourge’. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images / AFP)

about the gallery

A commission instated by President Donald Trump to look into America's opioid crisis has reported that overdoses claim as many lives as the 9/11 attacks every three weeks, surpassing gun violence and car crash fatalities combined.